LATEST: Over 5,000 new cases of virus confirmed

More than 5,000 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed this evening.

The Department of Health said it has been notified of 5,483 new cases of the virus over the past 24 hours.

And there are 549 patients in hospital with the virus, up six on yesterday.

Of these, 96 people are being treated in ICU, a drop of one.

The latest figures come after the HSE lead for infection control and antimicrobial resistance warned that the vaccine “doesn’t make you bulletproof”.

Professor Martin Cormican said the vaccine has provided a “floodwall for Ireland”, but people still need to adhere to public health guidelines.

Prof Cormican told RTÉ News: “The vaccine is really important and it has made a huge difference to the risk of people ending up in hospital or in ICU, and it does reduce your risk of getting infection to some degree, but it doesn’t make you bulletproof.”